Agriculture and Modern Technology: a defense
Thomas R. DeGregori
Iowa State University Press 2001 268 Pp.

Reviewed by Jacqueline Rowarth


Professor Tom DeGregori was the keynote speaker at the 2003 Forum, Fifty
Years On, sponsored by AGMARDT and the Royal Society of New Zealand.  He
left his books with me to review, a task I accepted with pleasure.

It is one of the great paradoxes of the twentieth century that
unprecedented gains in economic and non-economic indicators (e.g., health,
increased food supply, life expectancy) are largely ignored in favour of
alleged dangers of modern existence.  From the philosophy of Plato to
genetic engineering, Professor Thomas DeGregori’s book provides information
on the benefits and downsides  and what it will take to sort out the
latter  that should be part of our basic knowledge as we struggle for
public understanding and support.

Man is a tool-making animal and it is tool making which constitutes
civilisation (Hu Shih 1928).  Furthermore, technology extends our senses
(DeGregori discusses the use of telescopes and microscopes enabling us to
see farther and smaller) and allows us to become connected with our
environment in numerous and exciting ways.  Many of these discoveries are
now available to the layman through popular books, on the internet and
through film and video (Lucky 2000); we are on the verge of having the
virtual observatory  aka the George Truman Show.

This is a double-edged sword because people can become involved without
having understanding of what has gone before.  It is in this area that the
book excels by bringing together information that we need to help their
understanding.  In a section on ‘overusing technologies’ DeGregori explains
clearly why chemicals have been used in the past: their effects were
miraculous in comparison with what had preceded them.  Antibiotics cured
infectious diseases previously thought incurable and so were administered
at the least symptom; chemical pesticides were cheap and effective, so
calendar spraying was the norm.  We now know that resistance builds up in
the target organism  but it has been argued that the main reason we have
problems with such things as antibiotics is that there was a long period
form the late 1960s until recently when research into new classes of
antibiotics was not done due to the mistaken belief that we had solved the
problems.

Pesticide poisoning and fear of residues has been in the public mind since
their development, but sickness and death are actually associated with
misuse.  The latter is sometimes deliberate, as in suicide; this was also
the case for arsenic, the main pesticide preceding the development of
modern chemicals.  DDT has prevented more human death and disease than any
other man-made chemical in human history.  Malaria was responsible for
causing more deaths in human population that any other human disease in
history (Cohen 1989) and was the leading cause of sickness and death in
1940, just prior to the use of DDT as an insecticide.  This was despite
malaria having been reduced or nearly eradicated in many areas due to
drainage or cultivation resulting in a decrease in breeding
grounds  another positive effect of technology.  Removal of DDT because of
concerns about the impact on food chains had a negative impact on malaria
control worldwide (Oaks et al. 1991).  Alternatives have now been
developed, but 2.5 million people still die each year, mostly in
Africa.  And yet there is no quality assured evidence that DDT is harmful
to humans (see P 135 for the exposition).

Food poisoning provides a fascinating study of cause and control.  800,000
to 4 million salmonella infections result in approximately 500 deaths per
annum (CDHS 2000).  Unpasteurised juice has been implicated as the vehicle
of transmission in 15 outbreaks in the United States.  Denis Avery, using
the Centre for Disease control data (Avery 1998 a, b) found that although
organic foods made up less than 1% of the US food supply, they were
implicated in at least 8% of confirmed cases of E. coli.  Food borne
pathogens are the sixth leading cause of death in the world, claiming 2.5
million lives per year.  Irradiation of food to reduce pathogens decreases
spoilage and the need for fungicides; it reduces salmonella levels by
factors of 10 billion to 100 trillion in meat and is effective in seafood
and eggs; it reduces pathogens and is the only way to remove E. coli
O157:H7 in raw meat and poultry.  Yet food irradiation is still the subject
of consumer debate.

For New Zealand, the sections on genetic modification are vital reading, as
is the exposé of the famous potato work revealed by Pusztai.  As we don’t
yet know what the economic benefits will be from the use of genetic
engineering, DeGregori concentrates on potential, and the fact that
media-hype has inflamed the argument.  He advocates intelligent caution and
concern, and it is in this section (P 120) that the Precautionary Principle
is explained, as well as the real costs to children if we fail to continue
to improve food supply.  The costs include the fact that malnutrition in
utero leads to increased diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, with
impacts on intelligence and learning for two subsequent generations. Low
calorie intake leads to kwashiorkor, marasmus, edema and other conditions.
Vitamin A deficiencies lead to blindness.  For genetically-engineered
organisms, DeGregori advocates Miller and Conko’s suggestion (2000) that a
methodological framework could be based on the stratification of organisms
into risk categories according to the consensus judgements of independent
scientific experts.

Scientific research has also had a beneficial impact on longevity.  In
1950, 28.7 % of children in developing countries died before their fifth
birthday.  By 1996 this figure had reduced to 8.8 %.  Since 1950, the total
number of people dying each year is approximately 50 million, but
population has more than doubled.  A study by Funding First (cited by Dr
Peter French, Principal Scientific Officer, Centre for Immunology, St
Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney) found that increases in life expectancy and
health during the 70 and 80s was worth $US 57 trillion dollars to the
American economy.

The problem for society is memory.  As our population becomes younger (on
average), fewer people have any real concept of hunger, disease, or even
delays in ‘getting what you want’.  Science education is a challenge for us
all.  Schools face pressure in the curriculum, and there is so much more to
know in all areas.  Access to information is high, but it is not always
‘quality assured’ and ideologically-driven groups present emotive arguments
for ‘the precautionary principle’, while misinterpreting the principle
itself.

Chapters in the book cover technology and its interactions with such
aspects as ‘the unity of experience’, industrialisation and creativity,
technophobia, human welfare, natural and organic, food production and
control. DeGregori is an economist of the social type.  The book is not
filled with the dollars associated with technological changes; he bases his
arguments on changes in people’s lives  health, longevity and
calories.  This should make it accessible to the layman, and provides a
powerful argument for continuing exploration and scientific
checking.  Throughout the book the tension between risks and benefits is
explored, not always unemotively.  It is the passion for his argument that
has inspired DeGregori to write this book in an attempt to explain the
benefits of our work, and his concern that society is tending to forget, or
take for granted our efforts, does come through in some places, as it did
in the ‘affirmation’ of our work that he gave at the conference (DeGregori
2003 a, b).  The passion apparent may increase appeal to the layman reader.

The book is written for the intelligent reader, and contains sufficient
information to be in University libraries.  It should also be in public
libraries and those of secondary schools.  My concern in this
recommendation is that the book contains facts and figures, and may not be
attractive as bedtime reading to those who need it most.  For me, it was
fascinating and will be a source of information for future talks.

The last word is for DeGregori, and is deeply pertinent in the current
debates in New Zealand:
“The simple truth is that in the early stages of the use of a technology,
we neither know all the potential beneficial uses, nor can we know the
possible adverse outcomes.  We learn by using good theories, by thinking
through problems to possible outcomes, and by testing and experimenting in
advance.  To get a complete picture for any technology, particularly in the
dynamic sense of technology in action, we must learn by doing.
Intelligent criticism of the overuse of a technology asks the questions:
How can we improve it/and or how can we continue to realise certain
benefits while avoiding some of the previously unforeseen problems?  These
questions are part of the process and, I believe, the discourse involved in
seeking answers to them facilitates technological change and the betterment
of human endeavour.”

References

Avery, D. T. 1998a. Draft EPA food safety leaflet misleads consumers,
pushes organic foods, though manure-borne toxins can endanger kids.  Global
Food Quarterly (25), Summer.

Avery, D. T. 1998b. The hidden dangers in organic foods.  American Outlook
Magazine 1(3): 19-22.

CDHS. 2000. Consumers warned not to drink unpasteurized juices produced by
California Day-Fresh Foods. Sacramento: California Department of Health
Services, news release, 11th February.

Cohen, M. N. 1989. Health and the Rise of Civilization. New Haven: Yale
University Press.

DeGregori, T. R. 2003a. An affirmation.  AgScience 15:

DeGregori, T. R. 2003b.  In: 50 Years On.

Hu Shih. 1928. The civilizations of East and West. In: Whither mankind: a
panorama of modern civilization. Ed C. Beard. London: Longmans, Green and Co.

Lucky, R. 2000. The quickening of science communication. Science 289
(5477): 259-264.

Miller, H. I.; Conko, G. 2000. The protocol’s illusionary principle. Nature
Biotechnology 18 (4): 360-369.

Oaks, S. Jr.; Mitchell, V. S.; Pearson, G. W.; Carpenter, C. C. J. (Eds).
1991. Malaria: obstacles and opportunities. Washington D. C.: National
Academy Press.